Coaching the Little Guys

Oscar Ponce shares his passion at an inner-city high school program

When Oscar Ponce was a sophomore distance runner at the University of Colorado, the team took its annual spring break trip to Arizona. With a bit of time before the next race, head coach Mark Wetmore took his runners on a half-day trip to Nogales, Ariz.

As often happens in border towns, scores of children were out begging. One little kid, no more than 5 years old, approached the team, selling tiny packs of Chiclets gum. Most of the runners kept walking, paying no attention to the anonymous, scruffy child. Ponce, however, stopped, dug into his pocket and handed him some money. "That was me 13 years ago," he quietly told his teammates.

Ponce, who was born in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, just across the border from El Paso, Texas, is still digging into his pockets helping out others less fortunate as head cross country and track coach and full-time counselor at Denver's Abraham Lincoln High School.

There were no cross country teams when Ponce arrived at the Denver public school, which includes many lower-income students. Ponce, then coaching at his alma mater, Denver North, was asked early in 2008 by Lincoln's athletic director, Dominic Martinez, to revive the cross country program, which had been disbanded six years earlier because of a lack of interest.

Ponce jumped into the position with the same passion he had put into becoming a 14:10 5,000m and 29:29 10,000m runner in college. He hit the streets, heading to the playgrounds and apartment complexes where potential runners might be hanging out. He sent roughly 200 letters to potential student-athletes and made a cross country video, complete with hip music.

"Naysayers were saying our kids don't like that sport," says Ponce, "but I knew that was not a fact, and I proved to myself and everyone that it was not a fact."

Ponce had 55 students out that first week of cross country in August, and by the end of the season, 35 were still on the roster. The team finished sixth at the seven-team league meet, but it's been a satisfying experience so far.

One of last season's highlights was winning the "freshmen challenge" at one of the team's invitationals, in which the results of the top three freshmen boys and top three freshmen girls were scored.

"I love coaching," he says. "There is nothing better than motivating people to better themselves. And yes, there are many similarities between training and coaching. You have to have similar discipline. I tend to be very meticulous, and if something is not done how I like it done, it tends to bother me for days. Honestly, I think I get more nervous with coaching than I do for my own racing."

This past spring, there were 62 students on the Abraham Lincoln track team, and although the team didn't have any state qualifiers, Ponce was named the Denver Public League's coach of the year. His best distance runner was junior Victor Salvatierra, who joined the cross country team after the season started and wound up becoming the team's No. 1 runner and a 4:40 miler in track.

Ponce, 31, and married for two years, is a mentor to most of his athletes, including many sons and daughters of immigrants being raised by a single mom, just as he was.

"I spend a lot of time with them" says Ponce, who often stays at the school until 8:30 p.m., advising and tutoring the students. "One of our obstacles is eligibility, and I take it as my responsibility to make sure they are student-athletes. I knew that would be the case building this from the ground up."

He says he couldn't do it without the support of his wife or the lift his mother gave him as a kid. "My mother worked two jobs to keep me and my sisters afloat," he says. "And she decided to come to the U.S. so we could have a better life. She has been a single mother and hard worker all her life. She's the backbone and a big reason why I am where I am."

Ponce has grown deep roots in Colorado. He moved to Denver with his mother and four sisters when he was 14, not knowing any English. He became an all-state cross country and track runner at Denver North High School, and, in 1995, became the first member of his family to graduate from high school.

Ponce's emphasis on education and athletics continued in college in Boulder. He earned academic All-American honors and was a six-time All-Big 12 runner, graduating in 2000 with a degree in Spanish literature. Then he earned his masters in education at Boston University, where he also ran for the Boston Athletic Association.

Ponce made his marathon debut at the 2008 Denver Marathon, clocking an eighth-place 2:45. But now coaching is his passion. He credits Wetmore, as well as his high school coach, Jeff Young, with helping him develop as a runner and as a person.

"I knew immediately that Oscar was a tough, courageous kid. Not long thereafter I learned that he had a quietly excellent mind as well," Wetmore says. "I am exceptionally pleased to see what kind of man he has become."